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Thursday, March 30, 2006
Chiongbian: It’s not amusing being written off
By Edgar R. Chiongbian
Teetime
Sports gurus of Cebu City got together with the head guru and a sumptuous meal of t-bones and tenderloin steaks were served to stimulate the brains.
Since everyone says golf is a sport of affluence, it got written off as depreciation, not deserving a count. But the truth be told, there are so many things about this sport, besides making legends that people don’t know about.
Like for instance, the best meal you can ever get in this sport is during the awarding dinner and for three years now, it seems that the highlight of the evening is munching on dices of raw meat extracted from a half naked-tuna on the table. Dab this with a little soy sauce mixed with some green gook that looks like play-doo and there you are; no steak and eggs but the whole bunch of hackers and duffers are happily going about their business with tummies full, ready for the raffles. And, yes, rice is served but you have to look for it because it’s wrapped in tiny portions and hard to handle with two fingers so sticks must used to eat them.
Another is that in Cebu, golf is most probably the highest employer of otherwise unemployable unskilled labor than any sport.
They’re the grounds people, ball boys, umbrella girls, caddies and locker attendants, et al. Look around you and tell me which other sport can compare to this in Cebu.
While other sports highlight their talents by going for the gold with their nice budgets, the sport of golf is self sufficiently providing livelihood and careers for our less fortunate! On the same hand, golf also supports the city with its own good income and helps other business around it. Other sports like tennis, badminton, etc., may provide employment but only as watchers.
Now on the subject of, “give to Caesar – what belongs to Caesar”. Please don’t ask me who said that but if you must, it was Jesus Christ. I have been relatively silent about this for some time because I felt that my views might be misunderstood but in light of yesterday’s column in another local paper, I must give my two centavos in.
I completely disagree that golf and other sports for that matter are considered amusement. When you buy a ticket to watch a game maybe that can be for entertainment or amusement because you are there to enjoy the competition.
But to say that one plays golf to get amused is ridiculous. There may be a few that don’t know would say that but this also hold true in all other sports. People are spending a lot of time and getting hurt, pounding away at their sport and you call that amusement? To the very extreme, how about people who go to the gym to work out like crazy, are they there to be amused? I dare say no.
What I think confusing a lot of people is that, in Cebu we have no amusement parks. And it is there where you find pure amusement! If you go to the boardwalk in the US, you can enjoy anything from shooting baskets, rings on bottles and wannabe muscle men trying to hit the gong with the heavy hammer. Only in our town or barangay fiestas do we have our local gypsies put up all kinds of games for amusement that are similar to the boardwalk.
So let us say that if no tickets were issued, it would be hard to say that it belongs to Caesar’s. But when they do, it would be hard to say that it is not.
Even our local cockpits issue tickets to enter but people don’t go there to get amused but for the sports betting. Maybe a handful of tourists do all of this for amusement, so tax them when they arrive. Only two things are sure in this world – that’s death and taxes.
GOLF TIP: Many players hit their chips and pitches fat because they shift only their hips. When the upper body and head stays back, this causes the club to bottom out too soon, resulting in fat or thin shots.
The proper way to address short chips and pitches is to lean your entire body toward the target, so your eyes are ahead of the ball. Hang a club straight down from your right eye so you can check this. The club should align in front of the ball. This moves the center of gravity forward and gives you the descending blow that you want on chips and pitches.
(erc@kyinet.net)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 30, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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